Current Students
Eleanor Skelton, P.E.
Lea Skelton is a PhD Student in the Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering Department at The University of Alabama, and a former practicing geotechnical engineer. She received a B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from Clemson University in 2012, and between June 2012 and August 2019, she worked as a geotechnical consulting engineer, becoming a Licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Alabama. During her time as a consulting engineer, Ms. Skelton worked on a variety of projects dealing with soils and foundations. Her research interests during her time at Clemson included soil-structure interaction, retaining structures, and finite element modeling, particularly for seismic loading. Her current research efforts focus on aggregate base and subgrade materials for pavement support, cement modified bases and subgrades, and subgrade soils modified with recycled asphalt pavement (RAP).
Lea Skelton is a PhD Student in the Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering Department at The University of Alabama, and a former practicing geotechnical engineer. She received a B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from Clemson University in 2012, and between June 2012 and August 2019, she worked as a geotechnical consulting engineer, becoming a Licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Alabama. During her time as a consulting engineer, Ms. Skelton worked on a variety of projects dealing with soils and foundations. Her research interests during her time at Clemson included soil-structure interaction, retaining structures, and finite element modeling, particularly for seismic loading. Her current research efforts focus on aggregate base and subgrade materials for pavement support, cement modified bases and subgrades, and subgrade soils modified with recycled asphalt pavement (RAP).
Dr. Javilla Barugahare
Dr. Barugahare is currently a post-doc with the Alabama Transportation Institute. He graduated from Wuhan University in 2018 and has performed extensive research on asphalt and concrete materials. His current research focus has shifted towards the durability of concrete used in infrastructure and specifically in characterizing the presence of Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR) in a non-destructive fashion. He is concurrently working on a second PhD from the University of Alabama.
Dr. Barugahare is currently a post-doc with the Alabama Transportation Institute. He graduated from Wuhan University in 2018 and has performed extensive research on asphalt and concrete materials. His current research focus has shifted towards the durability of concrete used in infrastructure and specifically in characterizing the presence of Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR) in a non-destructive fashion. He is concurrently working on a second PhD from the University of Alabama.
Former Students
PHD MASTERS UNDERGRADUATE
Research Experience for Undergrads (REU) - Summer 2018
I was extremely fortunate to have three outstanding students this past summer for the NSF REU program. The general theme of their research was alkali-activated materials. Each student's project is described below.
Kaley Collins, from the University of Arkansas, worked on utilizing the disk-shaped compact tension test (DCT) to characterize the size independent fracture behavior of alkali activated materials. We discovered a lot this summer, namely the alkali activated materials are significantly more brittle than traditional concrete and the existing DCT test parameters need to be modified. Additionally, Kaley examined the feasibility of using waste bamboo fibers to reinforce both portland cement concrete and alkali-activated materials.
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Marcelino Diaz, from The University of Alabama, worked on establishing reference set times for numerous alkali-activated material mixtures at several different temperatures. These set time references, obtained from modified Vicat testing, allowed for alternative methods of set time identification to be examined. The setting of alkali-activated materials is very different than portland cement concrete and little information is available to quantify the behavior, especially as a function of temperature.
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Spencer Oldfield, from Valparaiso University, conducted extensive experiments in an effort to characterize the reaction and setting behavior of alkali-activated materials utilizing isothermal calorimetry. The behavior was examined at three different temperatures as the reaction is extremely sensitive to ambient conditions. The design of experiments model used will allow for identification of fundamental mixture design properties and their impact on the rate and completeness of reaction.
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